Telephonic communications through the use of telephonic networks is a necessary aspect of modern society. The need to communicate telephonically is a practical necessity for many. Public-access telephonic networks are widely deployed and regularly utilized by many through which to effectuate telephonic communications.
Many, if not most, modern telephonic networks permit the effectuation of both voice communication services and non-voice communication services therethrough. Interconnection of the telephonic networks deployed throughout widely disparate areas, when suitably interconnected theretogether, permits the effectuation of such communication services between almost any locations at which access to a telephonic network is available.
Users of a telephonic network communicate telephonically through the use of telephonic, or other, communication stations that are connected to the telephonic networks. Some telephonic stations are connectable to a telephonic network by way of a wireline connection, and other telephonic stations are connectable to a telephonic network by way of a radio air interface.
In most conventional telephonic networks, circuit-switched communication techniques are utilized. That is to say, call connections formed between telephonic stations connected to a conventional telephonic network utilize circuit-switched connections. When a circuit-switched connection is formed, a circuit-switched channel, a dedicated channel, is dedicated to the telephonic stations for the duration of a communication session during which to effectuate the communication service. By providing the dedicated channel, a connection is maintained between the telephonic stations during the communication session, irrespective of whether data is more than just intermittently communicated therebetween. During times in which data is not communicated between the telephonic stations, the communication capacity dedicated thereto by the circuit-switched connection is not fully utilized. And, as a result, the communication capacity of a communication system in which circuit-switched connections are formed between telephonic stations pursuant to effectuation of a telephonic communication service are prone to underutilizing the communication capacity of the communication channels formed by the circuit-switched connections. In other words, inefficient utilization of the communication capacity of a telephonic network results.
Telephonic, and other communication, networks that utilize shared-channel communication techniques are better able efficiently to utilize the available communication capacity thereof. Packet-based communication schemes, for instance, utilize packet-switched connections permitting shared channels to be used upon which to communicate data. Packet-formatted data is formed of discrete packets, the communication of which is permitted at discrete intervals. The same channel that is used to communicate data packets in a communication session between a first set of telephonic stations is used to communicate data packets communicated between another set of telephonic stations pursuant to another communication session. A two-fold, or greater, increase in the communication capacity of a communication system that utilizes packet-switched connections, or other shared channels, is possible. And, in contrast to conventional, circuit-switched communication techniques, a telephonic network that utilizes packet-switched communication techniques are able more efficiently to utilize the communication capacity allocated to a communication system.
The packet-formatted data is formatted according to a standardized packet-formatting standard. Various packet formatting protocols have been promulgated and standardized. An IP protocol (Internet Protocol) is an exemplary packet formatting protocol that is widely utilized. Communication devices operable to send and to receive IP-formatted data, when suitably connected theretogether by way of a communication network, form communication stations capable of communicating the IP formatted data therebetween.
The Internet backbone is perhaps the most widely utilized packet data network, and to which communication devices of many types are regularly connected through which to communicate data pursuant to effectuation of a communication service. Access to the Internet backbone to permit sending and receiving of data thereon is also becoming a practical necessity of modern society. At many business establishments, workers are provided with both Internet access and conventional, telephonic service. For many work functions, access to both telephonic communications and to the Internet is required.
Increasingly, workers sometimes work at a location remote from the worker's normal office. A worker might, for instance, work from home or work from a travel destination. And, when working from home or the travel destination, or elsewhere, access both to telephonic service and to the Internet is also regularly available.
A worker, using a workstation connected at any location to the Internet backbone is able, generally, to receive data communicated thereto, such as by way of a virtual private network or a store-and-forward entity. However, routing of calls to a telephonic station positioned at the worker's location is not so easily completed.
Call forwarding of phone calls is available to forward calls placed to a particular telephonic station to another telephonic station. However, call forwarding used by many office locations is provided by a local PBX (private branch exchange) switch. That is to say, call forwarding is provided by the PBX switch associated with the telephonic station of the worker's work location. The PBX switch is programmed to route calls placed to the worker's telephonic station to an alternate telephonic station. The programming of the call forwarding is generally required to be performed at the phone whose calls are being forwarded. The call forwarding generally can not be done from a remote location. And, trunk-in and trunk-out lines are required to route a single call to the desired telephonic station. That is to say, a call forwarded by the PBX switch requires the call first to be received at the PBX switch, the trunk-in line, and then a new call is generated to the desired telephonic station, using a trunk-out line.
Conventional call forwarding schemes also exhibit other problems. Setting up the call forwarding must be a conscious effort, requiring active steps by one to enter the programming commands, separate from log in operations to a corporate network. A remote working scenario requires separate active steps. Additionally, there is sometimes no way remotely to defeat the call forwarding feature. That is, call forwarding sometimes can not be terminated but through subsequent call forwarding programming at the phone whose calls are being forwarded. And, voice mail generated while the worker is using the telephonic station at the desired, i.e., non-work, location instead is delivered to the voice mail of the telephonic station at the office location. A complex remote access methodology is required to access the voice mail, and no notification is provided to the worker at the remote location that the voice mail message is received.
So-called find-me/follow-me services are sometimes also available. These services also exhibit various drawbacks. Network traffic, for instance, is generated while the service calls one number, then another, then another. And, a caller is sometimes required to wait for extended time periods while successive routes time out and others are tried. Additionally, a conscious, active user input is required to set up the following criteria as well as to change the following criteria.
Conventional call-forwarding techniques exhibit various disadvantageous that limit their usefulness to a worker working from a remote location.
An improved manner by which to redirect calls placed in a telephonic network that overcomes the disadvantages associated with existing manners would therefore be advantageous.
It is in light of this background information related to call redirection in a telephonic network that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.